A Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey conducted in the first quarter of 2023 found that, based on the type of food Filipinos eat, 39 percent of families rated themselves as “food-poor,” 35 percent as “borderline food-poor,” and 26 percent as “not food-poor.”

In the survey results made public on May 7, SWS said the percentage of food-poor families rose from 34 percent or an estimated 8.7 million families in December 2022, to 39 percent or about 10.6 million households in March 2023.

Meanwhile, compared to December 2023, borderline food-poor families hardly moved from 38 percent, and not food-poor families barely changed from 28 percent, SWS said.

Food-poor families increase in all areas

According to SWS, the five-point rise in self-rated food-poor percentage from December 2022 to March 2023 was due to increases in all areas, more significantly in the Visayas and Mindanao than in Metro Manila and Balance Luzon.

“Compared to December 2022, self-rated food-poor rose significantly in the Visayas from 38 percent to 45 percent, and in Mindanao from 45 percent to 52 percent. It rose slightly in Metro Manila from 29 percent to 33 percent, and in Balance Luzon from 28 percent to 31 percent,” it said.

Meanwhile, SWS noted that food borderline fell in Metro Manila from 33 percent to 24 percent, and in the Visayas from 42 percent to 37 percent, but it did not change in Balance Luzon at 36 percent and hardly moved in Mindanao from 41 percent to 40 percent.

It added that the percentage of not food-poor hardly moved in Balance Luzon from 36 percent to 33 percent, and in the Visayas from 20 percent to 18 percent. 

However, it fell in Metro Manila from 38 percent to 43 percent, and in Mindanao from 14 percent to 9 percent.

Food poverty threshold rises in all areas except in Visayas

During the same survey period, SWS found that the national median Self-Rated Food Poverty Threshold (SRFP Threshold) rose from P7,000 in December 2022 to P8,000 in March 2023, while the national median Self-Rated Food Poverty Gap (SRFP Gap) stayed at P3,000 in the past six quarters.

SWS defines the SRFP Threshold as the minimum monthly food budget the food-poor families say they need in order not to consider their type of food as poor. 

Meanwhile, it defines the SRFP Gap as how much food-poor families lack relative to their stated SRFP threshold.

SWS said that in Metro Manila, the median SRFP Threshold rose from P9,000 in December 2022 to P10,000 in March 2023, while the median SRFP Gap rose from P4,000 to P5,000 in March 2023.

In Balance Luzon, it noted that the median SRFP Threshold rose from P8,000 to P9,000, while the median SRFP Gap rose from P3,000 to P4,000, while in the Visayas, the median SRFP Threshold fell from P9,000 to P8,000, while the median SRFP Gap stayed at P3,000.

In Mindanao, SWS said the median SRFP Threshold rose from P5,000 to P6,000, while the median SRFP Gap rose from P2,000 to P3,000.

The First Quarter 2023 Social Weather Survey was conducted from March 26-29, 2023, using face-to-face interviews of 1,200 adults nationwide.

It has sampling error margins of +/-2.8 percent for national percentages and +/-5.7 percent each for Metro Manila, Balance Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.